Random thoughts from a Brit in the North West. Those with a deeper interest in Galicia should go to www.colindavies.net Especially if they want a more positive take on things!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Spanish vignette; Life in Spain; & Grumpy Old Man

I
had another of those lovely Spanish experiences early this evening. I
was sitting on the steps of the Turismo in the old quarter,
waiting for friends. A little boy of 3 or 4 was playing next to me
with 2 objects he was pretending were cars. His parents were a couple
of feet away, at a bar table. When they got up to go, the father hid
one of the boy's objects in his pullover, as he was looking the other
way. The poor kid was stupefied and, in exasperation, asked me if I
knew where it was. I shrugged my shoulders and pointed towards his
parents, who were walking away. A minute or so later, the little boy
came running back to me to say his father had had it all the time.
How we all smiled. There
is an awful lot to be said for socialising your kids by taking them
(almost) everywhere with you.

Life
in Spain:

Consumer
prices continue to fall (0.5% over the year to August). Inflation
is now officially zero and this appears to be bad, as deflation
looms, threatening an already weak economy.

Youth
unemployment
is once again the highest in the EU, having overtaken that of Greece,
which has held this dubious distinction for a few years. 25% of all
the EU's workless young people are now here in Spain. It would be
even more if so many of them hadn't gone 'overseas' to seek jobs.

The
Royal family: My friend Anthea has read the prensa rosa
and advises that 1. the royal family - in an anti-corruption/scandal
move - is to shrink; and 2. the magazines have given up predicting
the divorce of the new monarchs and are now concentrating on Queen
Letizia's skinniness. Equals anorexia.

Finally
. . .

Curmudgeon
Corner: My lovely young guests of last week left me 20 towels to
wash, after being here only a week. They were clearly under the
impression this was a hotel with nil regard for the environment. I
should have put one of those specious hotel notices in the bathrooms.
Anyway, for 3 people for just 1 week the total of 20 comprised 9 bath
towels; 3 beach towels; 4 hand towels; and 4 bidet towels. In future
I'll be locking the towel cupboard. Meanwhile, here's the
freshly-washed evidence . . .

At least here in Madrid, even stay-at-home mothers send their kids to day care as soon as they can. I once asked a friend why she paid to have a nursery school take care of her 1 year old when she wasn't working at the time. "So he can get out and make friends", was the reply. Take that, all you home-schoolers.